What a Wonderful World Louie Armstrong: Biography

Louis Armstrong was brought up poor and later in life became politically active failing to cow-tow to politicians who did little or nothing for civil rights.

He could have become a bitter man, butinstead, he chose to make where we live, a “Wonderful World.”

Satchmo became Armstrong’s nickname after his 1932 Grand Tour of Europe.

A London music magazine editor wrote “Satchmo” in an article — probably because he could not read his garbled notes. Up until that time, Armstrong’s nickname was Satchelmouth.

Pictured on a 32¢ US commemorative postage stamp in the Legends of American Music series, issued 1 September 1995.

Posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1990) (under the category Early Influence).

Posthumously inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame (1978) (charter member).

He was nicknamed “Pops” because that is the name he addressed everyone by.

Later on in his career, he picked up the sobriquet “America’s Jazz Ambassador” because of his frequent jazz concerts around the world.

For most of his life, Louis Armstrong always gave July 4, 1900, as his birthdate, possibly because it was easy to remember.

In all likelihood, he probably believed it himself.

It wasn’t until many years after his death that a birth record was found confirming the correct dateon August 4, 1901.

Although his career as a recording artist dates back to the 1920s, when he made now-classic recordings with Joe ‘King’ Oliver, Bessie Smith and the legendary Jimmie Rodgers, as well as his own Hot Five and Hot Seven groups, his biggest hits as a recording artist came comparatively late in his life.

“Mack the Knife” (1956), “Hello, Dolly!” (a #1 hit in 1964), “What a Wonderful World” (1968) and “We Have All the Time in the World” (over 20 years after his death).

Interestingly enough, Armstrong had never heard of either the song or show “Hello, Dolly!” when he recorded it.

To him, it was just the lead song on an album of show tunes, and he was more surprised than anyone when both the single and the album (Kapp 1964) went to #1 on the Billboard charts.

What makes this accomplishment all the more remarkable is that it happened at the height of the so-called “British Invasion”, when The Beatles and other British rock groups seemed to be dominating every aspect of the pop music charts.

Although the term didn’t exist during his lifetime, there is much evidence to indicate that he may have beenbulimic.

He believed that it didn’t matter what you ate, as long as you purged yourself regularlyafterward.

He would do that with the help of an herbal laxative called Swiss Krissand even handed out mimeographed sheets on his diet regimen to friends.

In all probability, this contributed to the health problems he suffered in the last years of his life.

Refused to go a State Department-sponsored concert tour of the Soviet Union in 1959 because he felt the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower wasn’t doing enough to promote civil rights legislation.

Embittered by the treatment of blacks in his hometown of New Orleans, he chose to be buried in New York City.

The slang terms “cat” meaning a man about town and “chops” meaning a musician’s playing ability was first coined by him.

Louis Armstrong passed away on July 6, 1971, a month away from what would have been his 70th birthday on August 4.

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 7018 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 8, 1960.